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I wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep or the stress of my day at work, but as I sat at my desk in my office on the forty-fourth floor and watched the sun creep toward the horizon, I couldn’t help but stare at the number Ava had put in my phone under the nameLily.
She had to have known. Unless she’d somehow suffered a terrible accident and lost her memory without her father mentioning it, I couldn’t imagine a scenario where she didn’t realize who I was.
Why the fuck had she given me her number?
Some absurd part of me wanted to believe it was because she knew and didn’t care. But I knew better than that—knew she would have been just as concerned about her father’s reaction as I was.
The memory of burying myself inside of her as she relaxed around my cock took hold of me, and fuck it, so did my curiosity.
I tapped the little icon of a phone next to her number and brought my cell to my ear.
It didn’t even ring.
The number you have dialed is not in use.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Well, that made an upsetting amount of sense.
I deleted the contact and put my things away as I prepped myself for going roughly thirty floors up to the comfort of my home. It was for the best, realistically—I didn’t need to be getting myself into situations like this, not when I had Lucas to worry about. I had to be cagey when it came to seeing other people, and last night had easily been my biggest slip-up in that regard.
I could stuff the memories down. I could bury her in my mind and never dig her out. I’d done it before with far more troublesome baggage, and I could do it again.
Chapter 5
Ava
The clinking of glasses and scraping of plates was grating on me as I sat across from Dad at one of the nicest steakhouses in the city. Even tucked away in our private corner, the sounds didn’t stop, and I was far too aware ofeverything,from the painfully boring professional attire I wore, to the way the soles of my feet ached in my heels.
And a part of me couldn’t stop checking over Dad’s shoulder in case Adrian appeared out of thin air. My anxiety about running into him had been on high alert for almost two days now.
“Should have your office up and running by Thursday,” Dad said around a mouthful of food, his short beard shifting with every movement of his jaw as he chewed. His bald head was so ridiculously polished that it reflected the overhead lights as he bowed for another bite. “So you can start moving stuff in if you’d like.”
“Oh, cool.” I checked over his shoulder again while he was far too distracted with his food to notice.
“Any hires yet?”
“Dad, I barely haveclientsyet. I don’t really need to make hires until I’ve got a little too much work for myself.” I smoothedout my napkin over my plain black slacks, debating whether or not to ask the waitress for a spare one to shove in the neckline of my shirt to protect the loose, white fabric from my soup, but I decided against it.
“Who have you spoken to so far?”
I shrugged. “A handful of people in your office.”
His stare turned on me, his brows narrowing. “You’ve only spoken to people within SkyLine?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. SkyLine Exchange wasn’t exactly a hub of people looking for elite matchmaking services, but it was at least astartingpoint. He didn’t have to look so goddamn disappointed. “For now. I’ve got a couple of clients.”
He shook his head. “Management or ground team? I know damn well there isn’t anyone on the board that’s single.”
I sighed and picked up my spoon, my clam chowder getting colder by the minute. “Ground team.”
“Nope, no, absolutely not,” Dad snapped. “Drop them as clients. You need far more important people if you want this to work.”
“I have tofindthem first,” I explained. “My website isn’t exactly popular yet, and all I’m going off is word of mouth.”
“Your website…” He cut himself off as he shoved another bite of wagyu between his teeth, either deciding that whatever he was going to say was too harsh or too pointless. “We’ve got a charity ball coming up one week from tomorrow. Come to that and work the room. I’m sure you can get enough clients there to fit the bill and to warrant hiring a few people.”
The idea of attending acharityevent run by one of the greediest businesses in Manhattan sounded like it would practically drain the last bit of hope for humanity I had left in me, but with Dad, it was easier to shut up and agree than try to fight it. He was a much more intense person than Mom, and asmuch as I loved the city, I almost regretted leaving her in Boston and coming to live here.
